The invention relates to a machine for cutting in items of elastic material, of rubber or synthetics, for example blocks of foam rubber, said machine comprising a holding arrangement for the item in the form of a pair of jaws on each side of the item in its cutting position, and a cutting arrangement in the form of a cutting blade driven over wheels by a motor and being mounted in a frame which can be moved in a sliding manner on guide rails for the control of the cutting blade when said blade is being fed through the item by the movement of said frame.
Machines of this kind are used especially within the foam material industry for cutting through blocks of foam rubber when these blocks are to be shaped after the foaming process and the hardening.
Known cutting machines are usually built up of a frame with vertically extending guide rails or columns on which a frame with the cutting arrangement, in the form of a cutting blade, rollers and motor, can be raised and lowered for the movement of the free part of the cutting blade through the block.
With these constructions, however, the whole of the frame must be raised and lowered, which requires not only a considerable amount of energy, but also an expensive mechanical configuration in order to be able to ensure a precise movement of the frame and the cutting blade.
This precise movement is namely a precondition for the cutting to be effected in a completely uniform manner, and thus for the cut to be uniformly plane. Moreover, the machines have a relatively large construction height in relation to their cutting height, with the additional result that the machines become very heavy and costly to produce, to transport, to install and to operate.